FUCK, IT smelled foul.
Shane was in the shop, mucking shit out, trying his damnedest not to hurl at the mold and funk and stink.
Shit, you’d think there was a lizard rotting under the sink.
Still, the house was solid, Galen was working on the deck, and they’d spent two days clearing the road. That county municipal dude said they’d have lights late tomorrow and the water was safe to bathe in. All in all, it wasn’t bad.
Well, except for the Jeep.
Dude.
She looked like a beer can at the end of a jock’s frat party.
He shook his head and pushed another pile of sludge out the door, whistling under his breath.
“Shane? Shane, honey? Are you here? I finally got them to let me fucking dock. I was so goddamn worried!” Wade’s voice rang out, seeming to bounce off everything and fill up the air. Shit. Shit, he hadn’t even worried about where Wade was, what Wade was doing in the storm. Shit. What kind of a friend was he?
“I’m in the bait shop, man. How’d you weather it? The boat okay?”
“The boat’s a little dinged, but it’s all right. Man, you never called me back, even before the storms came in.” Wade barreled in, blond curls bouncing. “Man, this place stinks.”
“I didn’t. I went for a drive. I needed some air.” He needed to think. He needed…. He needed to see Momma.
“Oh. You could’ve come out on the boat.” Wade’s green eyes studied him, sort of guarded.
“No, Wade. No, I couldn’t. I went to see family.” Man, this was weird. “You didn’t get hurt any, did you?”
“Nope.” Wade winked, gave him a grin. “You could check, though.”
Uh. No. No, he didn’t think he could.
Another shadow fell over the door, Len’s big body filling all the available space. “Hey, darlin’, I heard someone pull up. You okay?”
“Yep. Wade came to check on us.”
Thank goodness.
“Oh hey, Wade. Good to see you’re okay.” Man, Len was looming. Wade probably didn’t know it, but Shane had seen it before.
Wade looked back at Galen, nodded. “Same to you, man. I was worried Shane was out here by himself.”
“Yeah. I figured you knew better.” Galen smiled slightly, staring Wade down a little. Not nasty. Just not all sweetness and light. “We managed.”
“Good. Good. I would hate for something bad to have happened to him. Do y’all need anything? There’s lights on the boat….”
Oh, Wade was a sweetheart. Really.
“No. No, we’re supposed to have lights soon, and we’ve got a shitload of work to do.”
Even Len unbent, coming over to clap Wade on the back. “Thanks, Wade. We’re good. Unless you got something fresh on the boat you want to share for supper.”
“The McDonald’s is open, man. That’s supper.” Wade wasn’t a cook. In fact, Shane wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Wade eat something not wrapped in paper….
“Well, we could do that, then.” Look at Len. He looked kinda like Vic the gator when he yawned.
“Nah. Y’all go ahead. I need to go to the condo, see if it’s all cool.” Wade shrugged, gave him a look. “If it’s all good, Shane?”
“Yeah, Wade. Yeah. I… I quit at the club. Me and Galen, we’re looking into other things.”
“You what?”
“I quit working the club for a while.” He held Wade’s eyes. “It was time to do something else.” He hoped.
“Uh-huh. Well….” A hard flush crawled up Wade’s tanned throat, into his cheeks. “Well, good luck, man. You’ll do great. I know it.”
God, he wanted to apologize. Wanted to just hide. “Thanks, buddy. Call us, man. We’ll hang out.”
“Sure. Sure. I’ll give you a call when you get cleared out a bit.”
“We’ll have a beer on me, okay?” Galen chimed in, those big, tight muscles relaxing some.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Wade looked… broken.
“See you, buddy. Don’t be a stranger.”
He watched Wade walk off, and he chewed his bottom lip, just guilty as all hell. Fuck. Fuck.
“You okay, darlin’?” Shit. Len always knew when he wasn’t. Always.
“That was weird. I….” He met Galen’s eyes. “He wanted me to go with him; he wanted lots of stuff. He’s a good guy, you know? But….” But Wade wasn’t Galen.
“I’m glad you didn’t.” Those dark eyes burned for him. “I know he’s your friend, Shane, but I’m glad you came back to me.”
“I had to. I love you.” It was stupid and girly, but there it was.
“I love you right back, honey.” That rough voice went low, growly, and Galen stepped right up to grab him, kissing him until his vision went all fuzzy.
Oh.
“Hey.” He kinda blinked, swayed a little.
“Hey.” Smiling, Galen twirled him around. “What do you say we play hooky and get out of the nasty for an hour or two? See what’s washed up on the beach?”
“Yeah. Hell, yeah.” Just a walk. He could so do that.
“Cool. I need to stretch my legs.” Holding his hand, Len wandered out into the yard, which was taking shape again.
“It’s looking better, yeah? Starting to look like it used to.” He laughed as the pups barreled out, hunting them.
“Yeah. Come on, you mutts. We’re going to have a walk.” Listen to that howl. The dogs were tired of being cooped up too.
Khan bounded over, heading straight for her person. “You’d better brace yourself….”
“Oof.” Len caught the silly girl midair, turning to kind of fling her so she landed a few feet away. Khan tilted her head, wagged, and then ran right at Len again. Someone had a new game.
He hooted, reaching down to scritch Goob’s ears. “Look at them, boy. Look at those two.”
Goob wagged and leaned, just panting away.
Khan romped all over Galen for five minutes before she was ready to walk. The silly girl seemed to love flying around like a demented bird. Then they got moving, heading the truck so they could go to the beach.
“It’s so quiet out here, with the electricity off, huh?”
“It is. Not bad, though, aside from the smell.” That sideways grin had him hooting, remembering that he and Galen had fun together.
“You know how many lizards gotta be in that shop?” He cackled as Goob started hunting, looking for lizards.
“I don’t want to think on it. Or snakes.” There was a cooler in the truck, and Len shrugged when he pointed at it. “I thought we’d get some ice, get some drinks. Have supper on the beach too.”
“Yeah? I can do that. I can so do that.” It was sorta weird, sorta like a dream, having this back.
“Good.” They got the dogs in the back of the king cab and headed out, Galen reaching over to hold his hand.
They drove in the quiet for a while, about until Shane got twitchy. “Whatcha thinkin’ about, Galen?”
“Huh?” Len glanced over, smiling a little. “I was just thinking about how I wanted some fried bread.”
The answer just tickled him, relaxed him, made him nod and chuckle. “I could demolish a funnel cake with strawberry.”
“I could too. Maybe one with bavarian cream.” That shit was nasty, but Galen loved it. Could power it down.
“Mmm-hmm. Funnel cakes, corn dogs—have we ever gone to a fair together?” He’d gone this spring with the guys, goofing off and getting drunk.
“I don’t think so. I mean, we’ve done the boardwalk.” Galen squeezed his hand before letting go to shift gears again. “You okay, darlin’?”
“Yeah. Sort of. It’s different. I’d worked myself all up, been living another whole life, kinda.” He didn’t know how to explain.
“What’s that mean?” Now Len was frowning, kinda glancing at him every few seconds. “I mean, I guess I can figure it.”
“I don’t know. I think it means that I thought I’d lost you, and I didn’t, and I’d got used to… fucking up.” Was that just making it worse?
Galen pulled off at a small public beach, not the one with the pier like he’d thought. Of course, Len kinda parked and sat, turning to face him, searching him with those eyes. “Fucking up? How?”
“Partying, mostly. I….” He shook his head, chewed his lip. This was a bad idea. “I was just not living right.”
“Shane.” That voice went all wonky, wobbling a little. “You weren’t…. No. I know you wouldn’t do that.”
“I wouldn’t cheat on you. Hell, Galen, if I was gonna do that, I wouldn’t love on you like I did.” It was bad enough he’d thought on it, thought serious about Wade.
“Then we’re good.” Those big hands landed on him, unbuckling his seat belt so Galen could pull him across for a kiss. “I knew you wouldn’t do that, but Christ, you’ve been talking scary.”
“It was scary.” He didn’t know how else to explain it.
“Okay. Okay, tell me what happened. Just one night of it.” Len eased him in, held on tight. Okay. Okay, Len had done this shit once, right?
He leaned, stared out the window. “Things just get out of hand so fast, you know? You have a couple beers and somebody hands you something, and suddenly I was flying and with folks I didn’t know, you know?”
“Oh, babe. I’m sorry.” That big body had tensed some, but he could tell Galen wasn’t gonna unload on him or anything.
“It’s my fault. I just got….” Weak? Bored? Stupid? “You know I’m not all that bright. I never have been good at that whole peer pressure thing.”
“Shit, darlin’. You’re not an idiot. Would you quit thinking you are?” Galen tilted his face up and stared right into his eyes. “I left you alone too much. Got too wrapped up in work. We both fucked up.”
“I’m a grown-up. I’m supposed to be able to do this.” He just didn’t.
“Do what?” Shaking his head, Len sighed. “It’s all trial and error. If my momma’s taught me anything, it’s that.”
“Yeah. Well, I’ve tried a lot and erred some.”
“So have I.” Heavy brows drew down. “Do we need to get you tested for anything, babe?”
“Tested?” He blinked, utterly confused and maybe a little hurt. “I said I hadn’t cheated on you, Galen.”
“No. No, I know, but there’s other things that can…. Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Galen kissed him. Hard. “Never mind, honey.”
Wait.
Wait.
Other things?
Shit.
Shane frowned, moving away a little. Okay. Damn it. “We’d best let the puppers run, huh? Before they eat their way out of the truck?”
“Yeah. I…. Yeah. I’m sorry, Shane. That was out of line.” Shit. Galen looked completely flustered and guilty as hell.
“It’s okay.” God, what if he’d…? What if…? Jesus. “Come on, pups. Let’s go.” He opened the door and headed down toward the water, the dogs running for the ocean.
Len caught up with him, pulled him around, stared down at him. “Shane. Please, darlin’. Don’t. I was just… well. I should know better. You’ve never done most of the shit I have.”
“I’ll go see a doctor. Make sure.” He didn’t think he could make Galen sick from taking pills and stuff, but maybe…. Hell, he didn’t know. He wouldn’t risk it, though. Jesus.
“You never used a needle, honey. I know you didn’t. That’s the only thing I would worry about.” Len was shaking his head, frowning. “I should never have asked.”
“Needles? No. No, Len. I don’t… shit, there isn’t anything feels good enough to do that, ’cept get these pierced….” His heart stopped racing quite so hard.
Shit.
“There you go.” Now he got a smile, a little wobbly, but right there. “I’m just stupid.”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Shane stopped, took a deep breath. No. More. Talking. “Just don’t stress on it, ’kay?”
“Okay.” Looping one arm around him, Galen steered him off toward the water, whistling up the dogs.
The sun was just starting to go down, the light trying to fade. It was kinda sad.
Kinda.